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Claims that Pashinyan and wife infected during trip to Nagorno-Karabakh ‘unfounded’

Hasmik Harutyunyan, the spokesperson for Nikol Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan, told Armenpress that speculation that the Prime Minister and his wife were infectious when visited Nagorno-Karabakh on 21 May for the oath-taking ceremony of Nagorno-Karabakh’s new President Arayik Harutyunyan, are unfounded. 

Pashinyan and his wife, she said, along with all other state officials who visited Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia, were tested before taking the trip. Arayik Harutyunyan was also tested for COVID-19 today, the test came back negative. 

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Pashinyan revealed that he and his immediate family had all tested positive for COVID-19. 

 For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Kadyrov: Chechnya and Daghestan to receive aid from UAE

Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov announced on Sunday that Chechnya and neighbouring Daghestan should expect a delivery of medical equipment from the United Arab Emirates this week. 

According to Kadyrov, Mohamed bin Zayed, Prince of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, offered to provide the aid during a recent telephone conversation. He said that the aid would include medical overalls, gloves, face masks, shoe covers and 25,000 rapid tests. 

In recent years, Kadyrov has developed close relations with the UAE which, according to some reports, has invested in some of the largest construction ventures in Chechnya's capital of Grozny. 

Georgian lawmakers mull fines for violating anti-coronavirus rules 

Georgia's National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have confirmed a new epidemiological cluster with at least 15 cases in Tbilisi’s central Saburtalo district. 

Despite experiencing a relative growth in new COVID-19 infections, including outside Tbilisi, Georgian medical authorities have not said if they are considering a recommendation to reimpose harsh anti-epidemic measures that are currently being rescinded nationwide. 

Though the NCDC’s Director, Amiran Gamkrelidze, made a statement today in which he scolded members of the public for not observing social distancing rules, especially for not wearing masks.

Georgia’s Parliamentary Speaker Archil Talakvadze has suggested the levy of new fines for violating social distancing rules, including the wearing of masks.

Cases on steady increase in Karachay-Cherkessia

Today, federal medical authorities reported 70 new infections in Karachay-Cherkessia, a record number of new daily cases for the region.

The numbers have been on a steady rise for the last ten days. 

Kazim Shamanov, Health Minister of Karachay-Cherkessia, assured the public that the healthcare system would not be overwhelmed. 

He also said that medical workers at Catastrophe Medicine and Emergency Center in Cherkessk had been provided with protective gear, after they threatened to leave their jobs on Friday. 

Nearly 200 medical workers have been affected by the pandemic after 61 of them had contracted the virus, while others went into self-isolation.

Meanwhile, Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, has announced a probe into the growing outbreak in Karachay-Cherkessia, including issues pertaining to the labour rights of Cherkessk hospital staff.

Daghestan has second-highest number of fatalities in Russia 

As Russia marks 232 deaths in the last 24 hours, a record high, Daghestan records the second-highest number of fatalities among Russia’s region, with 50 fatalities during the last 24 hours. 

With an additional 141 confirmed cases since yesterday, Daghestan has surpassed 5,000 cases. 

To date, there have been 260 recorded deaths from COVID-19 in Daghestan. 

[Also read more on OC Media: COVID-19 outbreak in Daghestan ‘significantly understated’]

Nearly 30,000 children in Georgia ‘at greater risk’ of getting infected with COVID-19 due to lack of handwashing facilities at home

Nearly 30,000 children in Georgia have no ‘handwashing facility with water and soap in the household’ and are therefore exposed to a greater risk of COVID-19 infection, according to UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey.

‘All children should continue to learn during the ongoing crisis and be able to safely return to school. Children who are already marginalized by lack of access to digital tools and internet connectivity, favourable home learning environments and parental support, risk falling further behind’, the statement from UNICEF said. 

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and family test positive for COVID-19

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this morning that he and his family tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. They are self-isolating in the Prime Minister’s residence.

The PM said that they were not showing any symptoms and that he would continue to work from self-isolation.

Summary

Welcome to OC Media’s coronavirus live updates for Monday, 1 June. We will be bringing you the latest news on the COVID-19 pandemic from around the Caucasus.

Today, shopping malls and markets (including open-air agricultural markets) have been allowed to reopen in Georgia. Meanwhile, there has been a small spike in new cases of COVID-19 infection over the weekend, with 26 new cases confirmed on 30 May. Some of the latest cases come from Tbilisi’s ‘Saburtalo cluster’. Since the outbreak began, Georgia’s capital remained largely free from community spread.

The Georgian government reopened public transport in Georgia last Friday, mandating all passengers to wear protective face masks. Inter-city connections are also expected to resume on 8 June. 

On Friday, the Communications Ministry of Daghestan assured the public that they have not installed, nor even tested 5G network technology in the region. 

The statement followed a protest in one of the settlements of Daghestan's Kizilyurt District against a recently erected mast that local residents claimed was a '5G mast' endangering their health. Conspiracy theorists in the North Caucasus have recently spread the false claim that 5G is connected to COVID-19 transmission and other illnesses. 

Several hundred citizens of Azerbaijan remain stranded near the border in Daghestan, as the Azerbaijani government has kept the border with Russia closed. Local authorities have constructed camps in order to shelter the stranded Azerbaijanis. 

Read the latest stories:

• Armenian COVID-19 ‘fake news’ site was funded by US
• ‘A lost year’ — How the global pandemic has hit Azerbaijan’s economy
• Armenia continues to reopen despite steady growth in new cases of COVID-19
• New law allows Georgian government to restrict rights without declaring state of emergency
• WHO recommendations ‘widely disregarded’ in South Ossetia’s Akhalgori
• Man disappears in Grozny after returning to be with family during pandemic
• Georgian Health Ministry cancels contract for ‘Dutch-made’ tests that were made in China
• Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh ‘vulnerable to COVID-19 pandemic’
• Georgia plans corona-safe ‘tourist zones’
• Critical shortages‘ of protective equipment reported in Daghestan’s hospitals
• Transgender woman sets herself on fire in Tbilisi
• Voice | The women on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Police clash with anti-stay-at-home protesters in North Ossetia